1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for removing wax and waxy contaminants from hydrocarbon liquids.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Lube oil basestocks are obtained from crude oil vacuum distillation units and are separated according to viscosity and boiling point specifications. One undesirable characteristic of these basestocks is the presence of paraffin wax (high molecular weight hydrocarbons) which is responsible for poor flow properties at ambient temperatures. The paraffin wax is removed in a process called "dewaxing" in order to obtain a finished oil with good pour point properties.
There are two types of dewaxing processes in use today, solvent dewaxing and catalytic dewaxing. Solvent dewaxing utilizes a solvent to dilute the waxy raffinate in conjunction with refrigeration to crystallize out the wax which is then filtered. Catalytic dewaxing is a selective hydrocacking process to crack waxy molecules to lighter hydrocarbons.
Basestocks which are difficult to filter sometimes require a processing aid commonly referred to as a "Dewaxing Aid". These dewaxing additives modify wax crystal formation to improve filterability, oil yield, oil in wax content, and/or reduce the amount of solvent dilution. The pour point of the dewaxed oil is usually not affected by dewaxing aids. Unfortunately, due to the compositional variation between basestocks, a dewaxing additive which enhances the performance in one basestock may not work at all in another. Desirably, an additive that works well across all basestocks would be available.